When rumor-mongering, don’t forget about contract clauses — and Marleau says he’s not at that bridge

A quiet week for the Sharks once the Adam Burish signing was in the books.

And, yes, I’ve seen the trade speculation out there, some of which I’ll chose not to dignify with a specific reference.

But before anyone gets too heated up over what may or may not be going on, a reminder that both Patrick Marleau and Marty Havlat have contracts with no-movement clauses in them while Dan Boyle has a modified no-trade clause in which he can limit his possible destinations.

At the end of the season, I asked Marleau if he might be willing to waive whatever no-movement clause he has in his contract if Doug Wilson approached him with a possible trade partner.

I decided it was time for a follow-up call, reached Marleau, reminded him of his earlier response and asked if the issue has come up this week.

“I’m not at that bridge,” was his stick-to-the-metaphor response.

I’ll acknowledge some uncertainty over the precise wording of whatever clause may be in Marleau’s contract. Doug Wilson will not discuss the subject in this particular contract or any other, Marleau chose not to spell anything out one way or the other and his agent didn’t get back to me this week.

The best information on the subject is the almost always reliable capgeek.com, which has no qualifier or reference to a window in its notation on Marleau’s no-movement-clause.

Capgeek.com does spell out Boyle’s contract, saying he can rule out eight franchises. So far, according to Boyle, no one has asked for a list, which is fine with him.

As for Havlat, his agent Allan Walsh made it clear to me weeks ago that the no-movement clause has no escape language, then repeated that same info on Twitter when his client’s name showed up in the rumor mill.

*****None of the above is to say none of those three players are 100 percent locks to be Sharks next season. You only need to look to Boyle’s experience in Tampa Bay to know otherwise — though it would be out-of-character for Wilson to go the “I will make your life a living hell” route.

All I’m doing is suggesting you think twice every time any of those three names is said to be heading somewhere else.

*****And if I had anything new on the Rick Nash front, I’d have shared it. Again, earlier this week got a pretty strong signal from someone familiar with the situation that San Jose was dropping down the list of places he would most likely end up.

*****I do have the sense that something is in the wind for Monday, but it seems more like something that doesn’t involve any outside parties. Maybe a new assistant coach? Maybe a contract extension for someone on the roster? I’d only be guessing beyond that.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.